Alesandra Flowers
Alesandra Flowers, born and still regarded by some as Alesandra Blackflower, is the bastard daughter of Otto Blackflower, then the Commander of the Second Sons, and a Tyroshi pillow-slave named Vaesella. She was born into slavery, but she and her mother were purchased and freed by her father shortly after her birth. The owner of several successful business ventures centered primarily in Essos, she currently serves as the Master of Coin in her cousin Arlan Hightower's absence. Appearance Alesa took more from her mother than she did her father. That's a blessing, in her mind. He is a man better forgotten in whatever shallow ditch he was buried in. Her fair hair, blue eyes, and pale skin--all hers. Years of illness have left her frame fail, but even at her weakest there's a cunning spark in her eyes. History Alesandra was born a bastard. It's a common refrain in Essos, heard in pillow houses from Braavos to Lys. Bastards born of whores who, by choice or by force, carried the child to term. The identity of her father did not set her apart; many bastards in Essos were born to nobility or wealthy merchants. What made her unique was that her father, Otto Blackflower, gave half a damn about her. He bought her mother and her both from the pillow house she was kept at, and brought them to his camp. She was raised on the move. The Second Sons were no Golden Company, but they were respectable. They never lacked for work as they criss-crossed through Essos, never spending more than a few months in the employ of a given entity. Her relationship with her father was not a positive one. He did not hit her--he considered himself too honorable for that--but he did exert his power over her in other ways. Alesandra grew up mostly without friends. The Second Sons was not a place for children, and those few that did end up among them were kept far, far away from her. Her sickly reputation preceded her. Vaesella contracted Greyscale early in Alesa's life. She concealed its spread well for a time. Despite purchasing her freedom (or perhaps because he had?), Otto did not care to sleep with her. The patch of stone on her back went unnoticed until it had spread up past her shoulders many years later. By the time the disease claimed her, she was more stone than skin from the neck down. Alesa's last memory of her mother is a fond one: wrapped in her arms, tight against her breast, while she hummed her her favorite nursery rhyme one last time. It was a peaceful way to die, Alesa tells herself. It was a better fate than that of the stone men in Chroyane. Vaesella had been the one responsible for Alesa's upbringing. The extent of Otto's involvement was the gold provided for the tutors and the equipment. She thinks he imagined his daughter being something different than she was. Someone in better health, or possibly just a son to carry on his legacy. Alesa never accepted that. When her education began to fall apart after Vaesella's death, she took to teaching herself, instead. Every time they entered a city, she would find some excuse to vanish into its streets, stealing or buying whatever books she could with her meager allowance. She buried them beneath her dresses in a chest she kept at the foot of her bed, and whenever time allowed, poured over their every page. Her father tried to fight it every step of the way, but neither he nor her illness could stop someone as willful as her. That was the core of their argument after her fifteenth nameday. With the Third Targaryen Invasion on the horizon, the Blackflower was eager to return home after decades of exile, and was already making plans for his reign in Oldtown. The first step was to marry his daughter to Maekar Targaryen, the yet-unmarried twin brother of Aelyx. When she at last discovered his plan, she would have none of it. After a verbal fight turned physical, Alesa gathered her meager belongings, and absconded with as much of the company's coffers as she could. Men of the Second Sons pursued her after Otto realized what she had done, but they were always two steps behind. Finding a single fair-haired woman in the sprawling cities of Essos was a difficult task, to say the least, especially when she did not want to be found. With that gold, Alesa bought her first ship, which she named Dāerves (in Westerosi, Freedom). She had no talent for sailing it, but she was good at the administrative portions of the duty. She had a certain acumen for tradecraft, as well. One ship became two ships. Two became three. Soon, her name was one on the lips of merchants in Essos and Westeros both. Otto briefly set aside his vendetta to participate in the Third Targaryen Invasion. He would never have the chance to resume it; he died just outside of King's Landing, his body buried in a shallow ditch with a few hundred others. An ignominious end for a man who deserved no less. Finally free of the specter of her father's influence, Alesa traveled to Oldtown. Ostensibly, the trip was for business, but it was coupled with another purpose: meeting the family she had so far only heard stories of. She picked a poor time to visit. She struggled to get an audience of any sort with the Hightowers; they were not half as interested as meeting the bastard of an exiled, black mark on their reputation as she was in meeting them. Not a week or two after her arrival, the first victims of the Plague met their ends. Lord Mallador Hightower, eager to contain the suffering, puts a quarantine into effect. Alesa was unfortunate enough to be located in the Lower Quarters when the quarantine was put in place. Her modest accommodations in the Lower Quarters became a make-shift hospital, treating the sick and disseminating what supplies she could. It was through that work that she met Mara Hightower, the wife of Mallador's heir, Arlan. She was her ticket into the Hightower, though she never viewed her that way. She was a being too pure to manipulate so. It was at her own urging that Alesa finally entered the Hightower. It was her words that moved Arlan, and his words that moved Mallador. For the first time, she had something resembling a family. In Mara, she found something resembling a friend. Fate was not kind enough to leave her with both. Towards the end of the year, Alesa finally caught the plague that had ravaged Oldtown. It was a miracle she hadn't yet; her health had never been the best to begin with. Mara took ill soon after. When the plague abated, Alesa was left behind, though her illness was exacerbated. Broken, but still alive. Mara was not. She stayed in Oldtown for a few years after the plague, managing her businesses from her new chambers in the Hightower and helping to revitalize the city's economy. When Arlan was named Master of Coin and left for King's Landing, Alesa left, too, frustrated. She felt that her efforts and her competencies had been attributed to Arlan instead. Who in Westeros would think a woman--a foreign bastard, at that--capable of such things? Alesa left for Essos for a time. She bounced between the Free Cities, managing the businesses she had neglected while in Oldtown, but the continent had less of an appeal to her than it did before. In 398 AC, after news of Axel's death reached her, she traveled to King's Landing. Timeline 373 AC - Alesandra is born in a Tyroshi whorehouse. Shortly after her birth, she and her mother Vaesella are freed by her father, Otto Blackflower. 376 AC - Vaesella contracts Greyscale after the Second Sons spends time fulfilling a contract along the River Rhoyne. 385 AC - Vaesella dies. Alesandra is wrapped in her arms as she takes her final ragged breaths. 388 AC - After a fight with her father, Alesandra absconds with as much of the company's coffers as she can manage. She starts a mercantile enterprise in Pentos, but is frequently forced to relocate to avoid her father's retribution. She adopts the last name Flowers. 390 AC - Otto Blackflower dies in Westeros during the Third Targaryen Rebellion. The Second Sons, under new leadership and preoccupied with recruitment, stop pursuing her. 391 AC - Business takes her to Oldtown. She arrives just before the plague in the Lower Quarters, and is caught in the Quarantine imposed by Lord Mallador Hightower. Due to the help of Mara Hightower, she is able to meet with her estranged family in the Hightower. Slowly, she is accepted into their life. After some time, she falls victim to the Plague, and though she recovers, she never returns to full health. Mara is less fortunate. 393 AC - Mallador Hightower dies. Arlan inherits. 394 AC - Arlan is named Master of Coin. Alesandra leaves Oldtown for the Free Cities. 398 AC - Alesandra arrives in King's Landing. 398 AC - Present day. Family Recent Events Supporting characters Category:House Hightower Category:Small Council